On-page SEO: a checklist that isn't stuck in 2015
Forget keyword density. A modern on-page checklist: intent, titles, headings, internal links, and details that still move rankings.
Most on-page SEO advice online is a fossil. Keyword density, exact-match repetition, stuffing synonyms into alt text — none of it reflects how search engines evaluate pages today. Modern on-page work is about making a page unmistakably the best answer to a specific query. Here is the checklist that still earns its place.
Start from intent, not keywords
Before touching the page, search your target query and read what ranks. Google is showing you what it believes searchers want — format, depth, and angle. If the results are comparison tables and your page is a philosophical essay, no amount of optimization closes that gap. This is the same discipline as researching keywords by intent, applied at the page level.
Craft the title like ad copy
Your title tag is the ad Google runs for you. Lead with the concrete promise, keep it under about 60 characters so it doesn't truncate, and make it specific enough that the right visitor clicks and the wrong one doesn't. The heading on the page can be longer and more expressive — they serve different jobs.
Structure headings as an argument
H2s should read like a table of contents someone would actually want to follow. Search engines use them to understand coverage; readers use them to decide whether to stay. If your headings only make sense after reading the paragraphs, invert them.
Link internally with intent
Every page should send readers somewhere useful next: the deeper guide, the related service, the natural next question. Descriptive anchor text (“technical SEO foundations”, not “click here”) tells both readers and crawlers what awaits. Orphan pages — with no internal links pointing at them — rank poorly for a reason.
Sweat the unglamorous details
One H1. A meta description written for humans. Descriptive image alt text. A canonical URL. Clean, readable URLs. Fast load — if the basics are shaky, fix the technical foundation first. None of these wins alone; together they compound.
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